_ 62 _ I communicated this to you in the same manner as a son to this father(A). Now, as this man is travelling overland, I shall give you news of myself(B). 2. I was sent from Goa to Ormuz, where I am with Father Tonda(C), on a twenty-day voyage which took me four months, during which, apart from other tribulations, when we were already in sight of Ormuz, rounding a cape which is called Mossandan(D), where more carracks are lost than on the whole voyage to India, I was also on the point of being lost. We proceeded one day until nightfall under mainsail and foresail; and when we were about to haul down the mainsail, the wind was so strong that we could neither reef it nor gather it in, and we were on the point of foundering. This was at a point less than a league from the land and we were unable to steer away from it. 3. After God had delivered us from this, our pilot, against the desire of many, set us adrift, and each of us was expecting the moment when the carrack would be wrecked. (A) This letter is lost (cf.doc.9c and doc, 33,1-2). (B) Cf.doc.33,10. (C) Father Vicente Tonda. (D) Ras Massandan (the name is spelt in various ways), the extremity of Arabia, where the Gulf of Persia begins (cf.Yule Burnell 602, Mohff, p.XI-XII).
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